Tools & Fabrication - MityVac

Picked up a MityVac a few weeks ago, and just bled the brakes on my wife's Malibu... This is a great tool! $30 at Harbor Freight. :drive:

I never seem to have any luck with mine- I always go back to bleeding the brakes the old fashioned way.

What goes wrong? I thought it was super easy... This way I could do it by myself.

I got one. Its nice, no problems yet. I also got a auto-darkening mask for $50 (welding) they are usually $100+. It works great.

The few times I've tried to use it were on installs with almost all virgin lines- I think mabye there's just soo much air that the vac can't do it's thing. Or it's quite possible that I may be mildly retarded.

The few times I've tried to use it were on installs with almost all virgin lines- I think mabye there's just soo much air that the vac can't do it's thing. Or it's quite possible that I may be mildly retarded.
Well then call me your retarded brother. I've never had any luck either bleeding the system with my mitivac. Bled one system 4 times back to back, still had mushy pedal. Bled it once the old fashioned way, pedal is nice and firm. Maybe I was doing it wrong? :confused:

after thinking about it, I wonder if the mity-vac tends to create enough vacum to draw air in from around the bleeder threads once the bleeders are cracked?
I guess it's also possible that the plastic nipples they give you don't fit well it would draw air in between the nipple and the bleeder screw.

This would not be an issue when bleeding by creating pressure by using the pedal and would explain why it never seems to work for me, but bleeding with the pedal ALWAYS does.

FWIW, I used the needle attachment that fits inside of the bleeder screw. This was on my wife's Malibu. I might try doing it the old fashioned way, just to see if that makes the pedal even more firm. Maybe it does suck a little air around the threads. I believe it mentions this in the manual, but says it has no effect because the air doesn't get in the system... I don't know...

after thinking about it, I wonder if the mity-vac tends to create enough vacum to draw air in from around the bleeder threads once the bleeders are cracked?
I guess it's also possible that the plastic nipples they give you don't fit well it would draw air in between the nipple and the bleeder screw.

This would not be an issue when bleeding by creating pressure by using the pedal and would explain why it never seems to work for me, but bleeding with the pedal ALWAYS does.
I've used one for years with no problems. The key is sealing the plastic hose to the bleeder valve. I pump it up to 25 psi then let go of the trigger for a second to make sure the needle on the gauge is steady and does not go down. After confirming it's steady open the bleeder valve. FWIW, I get the same results between the two methods.

I've used one for years with no problems. The key is sealing the plastic hose to the bleeder valve. I pump it up to 25 psi then let go of the trigger for a second to make sure the needle on the gauge is steady and does not go down. After confirming it's steady open the bleeder valve. FWIW, I get the same results between the two methods.


That's what I did... Seemed to work fine.

I prefer this.... http://www.motiveproducts.com/